Here is what to expect in CLAT 2024: Revised pattern, takeaways from previous year paper

NEW DELHI: In its content, the CLAT 2024 syllabus remains exactly like its previous sessions. However, a reduction in the total number of questions from 150 to 120 is likely to make the law entrance exam more student friendly this year.

CLAT is still one of the toughest law entrance exams in India and known for throwing surprises. So, predicting how the CLAT 2024 question paper would look like is a tough ask. The previous year’s CLAT exam analysis does help in understanding trends but it is also equally important to consider the impact of new changes.

Below we discuss the revised pattern and analyse previous year’s paper to help students put their doubts to rest.

How does the revised pattern affect CLAT?

Last year, many students from CLAT exam centres told Careers360 that the entrance exam was quite lengthy and two hours were just not enough to answer the questions.

While revising the pattern this year, the Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLUs) said that reducing the number of questions was part of its ongoing effort to make CLAT a more student friendly and accessible examination.

Thus, experts believe that the CLAT question paper is likely to have shorter and less complex passages this year. In this context, Rajneesh Singh, CLAT mentor says that most of the serious CLAT takers will be able to genuinely attempt the full paper unless it is extremely tough.

Another obvious result of less number of questions and unchanged exam duration is a drop in CLAT cut-off marks. With just 120 questions in two hours, students have exactly one minute to answer each question. Earlier, they had to answer 150 questions in two hours.

With less number of questions in CLAT this year, achieving a 100+ score out of 120 is going to be extremely difficult this year. The cut off percentage for top NLUs has stayed around 66% during previous years. Assuming the difficulty level of the questions remains the same, a good score in CLAT 2024 for top ranked NLUs will be in the range of 75-85.

Takeaways from last year’s CLAT

Last year’s CLAT was moderately difficult but extremely lengthy as per views expressed by experts and students. Accuracy in answering questions played a crucial role in achieving a good score. Here are key takeaways from last year’s CLAT.

English language

The comprehension passages in this section had questions around the tone of the passage, inferences, central idea, etc. Topics covered in CLAT English included idioms, phrases, and grammatical concepts. This year also, CLAT English is likely to have similar topics. So, grammar skills along with high quality reading and comprehension skills are a must to do well in this section.

General knowledge and current affairs

This section surprised many candidates. Questions were on current topics like FIFA, growth in India’s agriculture sector, AI chatbots etc. Overall it was moderately difficult. This year too, CLAT general knowledge and current affairs is likely to see passages on current topics of national and international importance. While these paragraphs may or may not have direct answers, a decent level of current awareness and GK will help the candidates answer the questions from this section.

Legal reasoning

Topics like Law of Torts, Contract Law, Indian Penal Code, and related concepts featured under this section. Most of the topics were taken from legal current affairs but an understanding of basic concepts was crucial to score in this section.

Logical reasoning

This section also had passage based questions. The questions were on expected lines, dealing mainly with critical thinking. However, time management was extremely crucial as the question paper was too lengthy.

Quantitative aptitude

This section had a mix of easy to difficult questions. Overall it was a difficult and time taking section. The Quantitative section carries only 10% weightage in CLAT. However, candidates with good mathematical skills can score full marks in this section and it can become a game changer for them.

CLAT previous year paper: Distribution of questions and difficulty